Category: healthy food

core-de-force-week-2 Thanksgiving week meal plan

Wow, I have to say that making a meal plan for Thanksgiving week is the hardest meal plan that I’ve done. My main goals this week are to focus on eating vegetables and fruits, choosing whole food side dishes when I can, skip the extra dressings and to enjoy a treat or two and not beat myself up.

Core de Force Meal Plan

How does surviving the holidays with your health intact sound? I’ll be the first one to admit I can’t pass up a good cookie or real butter! But I’ve also learned that it’s ok to have a treat here and there as long as I eat healthy overall. It’s all about balance. This group is about support and encouragement and accountability. We check in daily on things like whether we drank enough water and if we got our workout in. I was traveling for work last week and the ladies in my group encouraged me to stay on track…even in the airport 😀I hope you’re interested in joining us.

Don’t forget that Core de Force is ON SALE this month! It’s a great deal, message me for info.

Healthy holidays challenge group – Limited time

Pumpkin Cauliflower Casserole

One recipe that I need to try is Pumpkin Cauliflower Casserole! Created by 21 Day fix superstar, Autumn Calabrese and her brother, this sounds like a great way to use up all of those pumpkins I grew in the garden. Stay tuned for how this recipe goes over at our house.

Apple orchards are busy this time of year. Hayrides and other fun activities. With apples on special and in abundance, I was looking for a healthy apple recipe to try. This week, I’ve been focusing on using my slow cooker for the convenience – it seems like we’re always so busy!

Ingredients

Apples, 3 lbs firm cooking apples

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 c. brown sugar

How to

Peel the apples 1/4″ thick and put in the bottom of your crockpot.
Sprinkle with the cinnamon, nutmeg & sugar. Toss to coat. Cook for about 2 hours on high or 4 on low. Before serving, stir in the vanilla. Serve with frozen yogurt.

If you’re like me, you want to eat healthy and yet you want to stay on budget. It’s important to plan ahead and not waste food. I put the meal plan together based on items I’ve purchased at ALDI. A new ALDI store recently opened where I live and I was surprised to find such a great variety of produce and slash my grocery bill at the same time.

21 Day Fix Meal Plan – Shopping at ALDI

The meal plan and grocery list are based on the 21 Day Fix Meal plan and use the 1,500-1,799 calorie bracket as a guideline. A few key things about the meal plan:

You can easily adjust for a different calorie bracket by adding or subtracting containers.

You can easily adapt this menu plan for a family. I plan on buying extra of all of the dinner items and that works out well to serve more than one person.

I’ve incorporated leftovers in most lunches. I hate to see good, healthy food go to waste so I will be bringing leftovers to work.

If you happen to find a really good deal on berries, they’re easy to freeze. Read Freezing Summer Berries. This is also a great tip if you find some great berries at a Farmer’s Market. Our raspberry patch is starting to produce, so I will be freezing our raspberries.

To really succeed, I recommend the 21 Day Fix workouts. They’re also on special in July. Message me for info or use these links:)If you’re interested in the 21 Day Fix program, please fill out my contact form or use this link.

RECIPES

In an effort to make meal planning even easier for those of you in my challenge group, I’m creating free printables! Click the link below to download the grocery list PDF. View other posts to download the meal planning template and the 21 Day Fix Tips list. Planning your meals will help weeknights go much smoother as well as save you money. Enjoy!

P.S. If you join my challenge group, you will have access to printables specific to your calorie range!

A beachbody challenge pack is your first step towards health and nutrition success. This is how I was first introduced to the beachbody workouts and shakeology and a year and a half later, I’m still hooked! Plus, I lost 5 lbs when I started and it has stayed off, even periods of time where I didn’t work out but kept drinking Shakeology.

A challenge pack includes:

Your first 30 days of the superfood meal replacement Shakeology

Workout program such as 21 Day Fix, the Master’s Hammer and Chisel, p90X, Insanity, Turbofire, Chalean Extreme, the new Hard Corps program – lots of options to find one that is perfect for you. Just send me a note if you have questions.

One thing to know is that ordering through a coach, like me:) will usually mean you’re getting one additional free DVD. For instance, with the new Master’s Hammer and Chisel program, when ordering through a coach you get an additional cardio DVD free.

Most of the programs are available as streaming as well as the DVDs. So, once you order, you don’t have to wait for the DVDs to arrive in the mail but you can start right away via streaming – BeachBody On Demand.

Send me a message if you’re curious about joining a group or wondering which fitness program might work best for you! Be sure to make me your coach when you use the links below so that you can join the group!

I am so excited about this upcoming challenge group! I personally realize that when I don’t plan meals, I waste money simply because I end up with tons of mismatched leftover and I waste food. Join me and the rest of our challengers in this group. You will get:

1:1 support

Group accountability

New ideas on how to cook cheap & healthy meals

Learn and share healthy, yet frugal, recipes

Learn how to cook once and use an ingredient in multiple recipes

21 day fix meal plans from Aldi, Trader Joe’s and other frugal stores

Use technology to make planning and shopping much easier and more efficient

Shop and cook efficiently

REQUIREMENTS: This group will be open to challengers with a fitness program such as the 21 Day Fix, 21 Day Fix Extreme and Shakeology. You will also need ME listed as your free coach. Simply send me a message using the contact form on my site.

Wow, I just tried this recipe last weekend. I admit, I looked at the ingredients and thought, What’s so great about this recipe? Low-sugar chocolate breakfast bars? Seriously?! But for those of you on the 21 Day Fix program, these are so approved.

They are my #newfavorite! So yummy – I enjoy them with black coffee, so there’s no guilt.

How-to?
Mix the dry ingredients. Then add the sticky stuff and VOILA!
Press them into a square pan (prepped with non-stick spray)
Refrigerate. Cut into bars and enjoy. In moderation. Which may be hard to do.

Lately, I’ve been adding beet juice to my smoothies. They typically consist of 1 cup of berries, a handful of spinach, 1 cup of water and 1 scoop of superfood powder (I use Shakeology). When I substitute 1/2 c of beet juice and 1/2 cup of water for the full cup of water, I find that it adds an extra dimension to my smoothie.

I planted a few beets in my garden this year and I love them so I was curious about why they’re so healthy. I want to share with you what I’ve found.

Shakeology smoothie with berries & beet juice

Beets have lots of antioxidants. I’ve read that they have more antioxidants than tomatoes or carrots. While they have a lovely, sweet taste – it’s said they have a very low impact on blood sugar – so no spikes!

So far, I’ve purchased beet juice rather than juicing it myself. If you’re juicing your own beets, be sure to keep the beet greens. I often use them in smoothies in place of spinach. They are super nutritious – ranked one of the world’s healthiest foods. They have 15% RDA of iron, plus calcium and magnesium as well as Vitamin A (220%), Vitamin K and even Vitamin C.

For the beets themselves, I simply roast them at 400 degrees with a little olive oil – oh, for about 40 minutes or so. And that’s it! If there are any leftovers, I add them to a spinach salad with blue cheese and walnuts.

The beet vegetable, the root itself, is full of a phytonutrient called betalains. cancer-fighting compounds. As I continue to blog about healthy, natural food please check back. Send me any comments about what whole food nutrients you would like to learn about!

Smoothie bowls are so great! All of the good stuff that’s in a smoothie, with the satisfaction of feeling like a real meal.

Berries everywhere! On special at the grocery, at farmer’s markets, in your garden! For myself, we have three mulberry trees and I needed to find a way to put these to good use. So, I washed them, froze them and now are using them in smoothies like crazy.

1/2 c. beet juice
I topped my smoothie bowl off with ground flax and chia seeds. I also added some shakeology powder – I would have added it prior to blending, if I had remembered! I think this would have made it creamier as well, so I would definitely recommend adding protein powder and will add a scoop next time. I also sprinkled a tablespoon of oats on top.

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Learn about me

Hi - I'm Kia! My journey into health and fitness started naturally. I grew up on a farm, so was used to always being active. I loved helping my dad out in the field or in the barn with the animals. My grandmother had a large garden, so we always ate healthy foods. As I moved away and went to college, I started eating poorly with more convenience foods and fewer whole foods. Now, I'm in my 40s - I stay active with workout programs such as the 21 Day Fix and I eat a healthy diet, with a daily superfood shake(ology) and feel like I am in great shape for my age. My husband and I again live out in the country and keep busy with our animals and garden. It keeps us young! This is more and more important to me as I see family members who I love dearly, lose their independence and mobility as they age. I realize that it's up to me to do everything that I can to lay the foundation for my own independence and mobility as I reach that age. I hope you join me on this journey!